Above is a photo snapped during the first of this series of sunday protests in Vietnam, on June 5, 2011. This is an interesting photo, if one were to just take a look at some of the simple details in the picture, you will see what I mean. On one side, we have the anger and passion in the eyes of the protesters, expressing their love for their country under attack. On the other end, we have the Communist Police, looking down in shame because they realize that what they are doing is wrong. In suppressing the protests in Vietnam, the Communist Police are only preventing their own people from protecting their country. Thus, the Communist Police, through the orders of the Communist Party, are suppressing patriotism.

It is a shame that in a country like Communist Vietnam, one can get arrested for showing love for one’s country. Many of the dissidents detained in recent years are only guilty of one thing, if you can even call it guilt in the first place, loving their nation. It is good that the VCP decided to let the people protest against China as of late, but even this has been long overdue. The latest protests in Vietnam, happening only days ago, were not as big as they were supposed to be. The security forces in Vietnam have become weary of the size of the demonstrations, which have been steadily growing in successive weeks. As a result, they have taken measures to contain the size of these protests, making sure that the movement does not gain too much momentum.

This is unfortunate, Vietnam has so much strength and potential, yet the Communist Party refuses to acknowledge this. They are afraid that if the movement gets too strong, it would ultimately lead to the fall of Communist rule in Vietnam. For this reason, they are expending their energy controlling the population instead of using this energy to strengthen the country. Right now, there are millions of people willing to give their lives to defend the nation. They are brave, fearless, with undying love for their homeland. Instead of suppressing these people, the Communist Party should be embracing them. Judging from the looks of things, even the Communist Police are feeling shame for holding down the patriotic movement in Vietnam. If the Communist Party could summon the courage to accommodate the positive forces instead of fighting them, the end result will be much less painful for them. Something they should think about.